The figure of a man falls backward into the corner, as if responding to the text around him, which demands that all express surprise and amazement at the elephants’ size: “[I] ask [you] all to move away! / Open wide your eyes and mouth / for such as these / a page is small / [so we] gave / an entire / double spread." [when viewed with page 8]. The author issues his warning in the first person, as if the fictional figures represented in the book pose an actual threat to readers in the real world. The metatextual play with fiction and reality continues with his observation that these figures exceed the space of a single page—as if independent and real creatures whose presence could not be controlled by the author and illustrator of the book. The drama of this book thus capitalizes upon metatextual play that extends beyond the boundaries of the book.